The Wreck of the Fishing Vessel Sonny

The wreck of the fishing vessel Sonny
is
a very pleasant dive back into history. The 38' wood
hulled vessel is remarkably well preserved by the cold, dark
waters of Lake Washington. Located at the south end in
only 120 feet of water, it is also a fairly easy dive, as
far as dives in the Lake go.

We had spent the last three weekends
in the lake, finding several new wrecks, but every one
appeared to have been scuttled. We found several
barges, a tug, and a couple of pleasure craft, but all were
missing engines and had been stripped prior to sinking.
The Sonny stands proud and upright on the bottom of the
lake. Her propeller and engine are still in place, as
is a some of her deck machinery. The rudder still
moves easily to the touch, and a large fishing boom lies on
the bottom off of the port side. The wiring on the
boom is quite old, aluminum with some type of canvas/cloth
insulation.

The wheelhouse is quite picturesque,
so much so that I had to make a second dive on the wreck to
get some pictures. Viz was pretty good, you could
actually cover your light and still the wreck, which is very
unusual for this depth. The floor of the wheelhouse
had collapsed, exposing the engine, transmission and running
gear below. Just aft of the wheelhouse, a power driven
hoist once pulled heavy items up and down the boom.

The Sonny looks a lot like a tug, but
the only large bitt is forward of the cabin, and the large
boom indicates she was used for hauling nets, or something
similar at one point in her career.